'''Raven Software''' is a computer game software developer based in Madison, Wisconsin. The company was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. Raven has a history of working with [[id Software]] leading to their most recent project, ''Quake IV'', which was released on october 17th, 2005 for PC, and October 22nd for Xbox 360. Raven Software was acquired by [[Activision]] in 1997. During his tenure at id, [[John Romero]] was the primary link between the two companies.

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[[File:Raven logo.png|right|Raven Software logo]]

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'''Raven Software''' is a computer game software developer based in Madison, Wisconsin. The company was founded in 1990 by brothers [[Brian Raffel|Brian]] and [[Steve Raffel]]. The company formed with five men, one computer, a basement and a vision of creating a role-playing game for the Amiga computer platform.

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[[Doom engine]] games made by Raven Software include:

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Raven has a history of working with [[id Software]], the latest such project being ''[[Wikipedia:Quake 4|Quake 4]]'', which was released on October 17th, 2005 for PC, and November 22nd for [[Wikipedia:Xbox 360|Xbox 360]]. During his tenure at id, [[John Romero]] was the primary link between the two companies. Following [[ZeniMax Media]]'s acquisition of id Software, further partnerships are less likely to happen.

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Since id's acquisition by ZeniMax Media, the [[Heretic]] and [[Hexen]] brands appear to remain with Activision and Raven, rather than id, although this appears to only apply to new products created within those brands (or new ports of the original products); id still has distribution rights over the original releases of 3 of the 4 games in those series (sans Heretic II, which id did not co-publish originally), and in fact publishes them on [[Steam]].

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In 1997, Raven Software joined forces with [[Wikipedia:Activision|Activision]] in a publishing deal to combine Activision's publishing and distribution resources with Raven Software's development team. The same year, six of Raven's developers left to create [[Wikipedia:Human Head Studios|Human Head Studios]]: [[Chris Rhinehart]], [[Paul MacArthur]], [[Shane Gurno]], [[Ben Gokey]], [[James Sumwalt]], and [[Ted Halsted]].

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== Games ==

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Raven Software developed two [[Doom engine]] games, and one [[Doom 3]] engine game:

*[[Heretic]]

*[[Heretic]]

*[[Hexen]]

*[[Hexen]]

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*{{wp|Quake 4}}

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Raven Software also created [[Shadowcaster]] using a post-[[Wolfenstein 3D]], but pre-[[Doom]] engine created by [[John Carmack]], and sequels for [[Heretic]] and [[Hexen]] using the [[Quake]] engine. Other games released by Raven include the ''{{wp|Soldier_of_Fortune_(video_game)|Soldier of Fortune}}'' series, ''{{wp|Star_Trek:_Voyager_–_Elite_Force|Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force}}'', ''{{wp|Star_Wars_Jedi_Knight_II:_Jedi_Outcast|Star Wars: Jedi Outcast}}'', ''{{wp|Singularity_(video_game)|Singularity}}'' and {{wp|Template:Raven_Software|others}}.

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Unrelated games by Raven include the ''Soldier of Fortune'' series, the sequels to Hexen and Heretic, and others.

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== See also ==

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* [[:Category:Raven Software employees]]

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==External links==

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== External links ==

* [http://www.ravensoft.com/ Raven Software's official site]

* [http://www.ravensoft.com/ Raven Software's official site]

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{{Wikipedia|title=Raven Software}}

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{{Wikipedia}}

[[Category:Companies]]

[[Category:Companies]]

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[[Category:Id Software associates]]

Revision as of 10:02, 24 November 2011

Raven Software is a computer game software developer based in Madison, Wisconsin. The company was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. The company formed with five men, one computer, a basement and a vision of creating a role-playing game for the Amiga computer platform.

Raven has a history of working with id Software, the latest such project being Quake 4, which was released on October 17th, 2005 for PC, and November 22nd for Xbox 360. During his tenure at id, John Romero was the primary link between the two companies. Following ZeniMax Media's acquisition of id Software, further partnerships are less likely to happen.

Since id's acquisition by ZeniMax Media, the Heretic and Hexen brands appear to remain with Activision and Raven, rather than id, although this appears to only apply to new products created within those brands (or new ports of the original products); id still has distribution rights over the original releases of 3 of the 4 games in those series (sans Heretic II, which id did not co-publish originally), and in fact publishes them on Steam.